Animal Investigation Labs: Self Assessment

Curricular Response

My understanding of different animal body systems has been improved by dissecting a squid. This lab was related to the phylum of Mollusca and the class of Cephalopoda. This lab showed us that all Mollusca don’t have an external shell. Some of them, like squid, have an internal shell, like the pen-shaped shell. For example, I realized that the function of these pen shells in the squids is very important because they serve as sites for attachment and important muscles as well as a protective barrier for the visceral organs. Moreover, I know that each part of the squid helps the squid in its daily life. The finlets are used to guide through water while the funnel is used for respiration and waste removal.

Core Competency Self Assessment

I am most proud of the Cephalopoda lab that I did because, while it was fun, it was a little difficult to dissect. The reason is that some of the parts of squid that we had to dissect were hard to take out of squid. For example, with the pen, the internal shell was a little difficult to take out of the body and also, we had to be careful to not break it because with the sac ink and the pen shell, we had to write down our name on our lab worksheet. At the end, successfully, I was able to take the pen out and it did not break, so I could write my name.

While doing this lab, I faced some physical challenges. One of the challenges was, as I mentioned, taking out the pen from the squid. It was a little difficult, but in the end, I was able to take it out. The other challenge in this lab was to cut the squid with the internal parts. This was also a little difficult because you had to be careful not to cut the other parts because if you cut them, the rest of the lab would be very difficult.

One of my strategies was to be patient and slowly cut the body. If you do it too fast, you might cut the internal body parts too, so you should do it slowly. My next strategy was to watch how my teacher took off the pen shell first and then try it myself.

Chemistry 11 Core Competency Self-Assessment

Collaboration

In my Chemistry 11 class, I collaborated with my partner in the “Iron reacts with copper ii chloride” lab. For this lab, each person had a specific task, so we needed to use our communication skills to ensure that we were successful in all the tasks. For example, one of the tasks was to have a certain amount of copper (ll) chloride, and another task was to sand the iron. We could do all our tasks very well and use the best of our ability to do this lab and could achieve our goal. However, one of the errors was that after we cleaned the copper and dried the beaker, there were still greenish-coloured particles. These greenish-coloured particles showed there was still some of the copper (ll) chloride left in the beaker. Therefore, we would have been better off if we had washed them more.

Spanish 11 Core Competency Self-Assessment

Collaboration

Romeo and Julieta Script

In the Spanish class, I collaborated with two other people to create a script about Romeo and Juliet. In the beginning, we did not have many ideas and suggestions about it, but after a few minutes, we were able to come up with some great ideas. Moreover, we were able to use communication skills and write down the script with our cooperation and knowledge. We were capable of sharing all of our opinions, using each other’s ideas, and writing this script to the best of our ability. One of the things that I think we could’ve done better is focus more on verbs. 

Virus Unit Competency Self Assessment Assignment

Creative thinking

I demonstrated the core competency of my creative thinking in the virus project by collecting information based on the family of my virus and applying them to my model. My teammate and I had to choose a virus, make a model and a pamphlet of it and present it to the class. We decided to choose the Equine Infectious Anemia virus (EIA). My job was to make an EIA virus model. This virus infects horses and there is not much information about the model of this virus. However, I was able to creatively think about finding the family of this virus and apply the information that its family of viruses has to my model. In this project, I was able to get very familiar with this virus and other viruses and gather information. I was even able to learn parts of many viruses. My teammate and I were also able to use our collaboration and communication skills to share information. We were finally able to reach the main goal well.

Spanish 11 Core Competency Self-Assessment

Collaboration

I collaborated with three other people to write a script for this image in Spanish and presented it to the class. For writing this script, we all had different ideas and suggestions; we also had to write this script during a certain time. We were able to use communication skills and we wrote the script with cooperation and knowledge. We were capable of sharing all our opinions, using each other’s ideas and writing this script to the best of our ability. We could reach our goal and we were all very happy with the work that we presented. One of the things that I think we could’ve done better is to add more dialogue and conversations to the script.

Natural Selection Critical Thinking Self-Assessment

This is a picture of me collecting the red and black prey in the Natural Selection Lab

I demonstrated that I can collect and analyze evidence when I record the numerical data for each variable and organize them into a frequency table in both “The Natural Selection ” and “Feeding Frenzy” labs. During the “Feeding Frenzy” lab, my team members and I predicted the error ahead of the lab and tried our best to record accurate and unbiased data. Then, by organizing them into a frequency table for each variable which is the type of feeding tools in this lab, I gathered all the data. After all, in this lab, analyzing data by looking at the table and comparing the data together was accurate and easy. It goes the same for “The Natural Selection” lab, I record the data and organize them in a frequency table for collecting and analyzing data.

I demonstrated that I can connect evidence I collected to big ideas when I answer the follow-up questions based on my knowledge and connect them to the outside world. For both of the labs, there are some terminologies that are specific to those labs; first, I explain them, then I elaborate on what parts of the lab demonstrated that terminology or definition. This allows me to find varieties of examples in real life and open my mind to bigger ideas.

I demonstrated that I can make predictions based on evidence when I find real life examples and patterns in my lab. By finding the relation between data and variables, I can find a pattern and predict how it will happen in another laboratory environment. Moreover, by finding real life examples, I can connect it to real life and predict real life situations. For example, for a real life example in a “natural selection” lab, I can name frogs. Frogs have different colors depending on which environment they live in. They hide based on their colors on trees or on the ground to hide from the hunters (adaptation to environment). They are in competent with the other species over food which is insects (struggle for survival). They produce a lot of eggs so few of them at least can survive (overproduction of offspring). They also change in sizes and shade of color depends on the place they live (genetic variation). Based on the lab and data that we collect, we can say that the chance of survival for the prey in their same color environment is the highest. We can see the pattern in the lab here and by comparing it to a real life example, we can confirm that the pattern is the same and this happens in real life as well. Therefore, we can predict what will happen in similar situations.

I demonstrated that I can draw reasoned conclusions when I gather all previous information, all data, real life examples and their relations with each other. After knowing all basic information, terminologies and definitions, I consider a hypothesis. By looking at the purposes of the lab, I can make sure I am writing down an accurate hypothesis. Then, I record and track all data accurately. I organized them in a table for better analysis. Based on the follow-up questions and real life examples, I will find a pattern between my data and variables. In the end, by connecting all previous information, assumptions and researchers’ theories, I can draw reasoned conclusions. For example, in the “Feeding Frenzy” lab, I write a hypothesis such as a different feeding tool ends up with different results and survival rates for the person. I record the data by doing the lab and organize them in a table. Then, I answer the follow-up questions and think of a real life example. For a real life example, I think that the short giraffe that cannot eat the high leaves has a lower survival rate than the taller one. I also have basic information that feeding tools are important for survival and I know about the theory of “struggle for survival”. After collecting all the points and connecting them, I can draw a reasoned conclusion that the favorable traits that are adopted to the environment have a higher survival rate.